April 2010
36 posts
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Iran: We'll cut off Israel's legs →
During a visit to Damascus today, Iranian Vice President Rahimi said: “We will stand alongside Syria against any [Israeli] threat … If those who have violated Palestinian land want to try anything we will cut off their feet.” Rahimi called Syria a “strong country that is ready to confront any threat” and said Iran “will back Syria with all its means and...
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Exclusive: U.N. Elects Iran to Commission on... →
The United Nations Economic and Social Council has elected Iran to serve a four-year term — beginning in 2011 — on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The U.N. calls the Commission “the principal global policy-making body” on women’s rights and claims it is “dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women”. Yet Iran was elected by acclamation. It was...
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Congressional Iran Sanctions Negotiators: Military... →
Congress’ march to impose new sanctions on Iran entered the final stretch yesterday, with Members of the House and Senate convening a public meeting.
Both the House and the Senate have endorsed measures that would restrict gasoline from being shipped to or refined in Iran, but questions remain about how much flexibility the President should have to impose these sanctions and how much leeway...
Iran, Egypt ready for battle at nuclear meet →
Iran and Egypt are gearing up for battle against the United States and its allies over Israel and developing countries’ rights to atomic technology at a major meeting on the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ahmadickejad is expected to attend the conference, which opens on Monday and runs until May 28. He is the highest-ranking official attending. The 189 signatories of the landmark 1970 arms ...
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Suntanned Women to be Arrested in Iran →
Brig Hossien Sajedinia, Tehran’s police chief, said a national crackdown on opposition sympathizers would be extended to women who have been deemed to be violating the spirit of Islamic laws. He said: “The public expects us to act firmly and swiftly if we see any social misbehavior by women, and men, who defy our Islamic values. In some areas of north Tehran we can see ...
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LAT: Iran opposition issues call to mark election... →
Iran’s embattled opposition leaders, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, are calling for a new protest march to coincide with the one-year anniversary of disputed presidential elections in an attempt to jump-start a grass-roots political movement subdued by street violence and mass imprisonments, a reformist news website reported Tuesday. It’s the first call in months by...
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Iranian Homosexuals Carve out a Refuge in Turkey →
Homosexuality is punishable by death in Iran, and human rights groups estimate some 4,000 gays have been executed since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
The atmosphere has only gotten more tense since the arrival in power five years ago of hard-liner Ahmadickejad, who famously proclaimed in a 2007 speech at Columbia University that there are no homosexuals in his country. An official memo...
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Spiegel: The Bravest Man in Iran; A Visit with... →
Almost a year after the apparently manipulated Iranian presidential election, the regime has largely succeeded in silencing the opposition. But leading reformist cleric, Mahdi Karroubi, remains undaunted and continues his criticism of the government and has now announced new protests.
They have taken almost everything from him. In a bid to neutralize him, they have banned his Etemad-e Melli...
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Iran announces its candidacy for Women’s Rights... →
Ramin Mehmanparast, spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said that having withdrawn its candidacy for the United Nation’s Human Rights Council, they have nominated themselves for membership in the International Commission for Protection of Women’s Rights.
Reuters reports that a Western diplomat contends that the Islamic Republic has withdrawn its candidacy to save face, knowing they would...
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IRAN: Revolutionary Guard to conduct war games →
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard will start three days of war games on Thursday in the Persian Gulf and specifically the Strait of Hormuz, officials announced in a move that will likely add to already rising tensions in the region. The Revolutionary Guard’s second-in-command, Brig. Gen. Salami, told state television the drills were intended to “highlight the constructive and...
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Iranian Cleric: Promiscuous Women Cause... →
“Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,” Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. He is Tehran’s acting Friday prayer leader. “What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble? There is no other solution but to take refuge in...
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Ahmadinejad: U.S. facing isolation from the world →
Ahmadickejad has written a letter to Obama, calling on him to cooperate with the Islamic Republic. “Obama has only one way to remain in power and be successful; this way is Iran.” “Once [the U.S. was] at the height of glory. Now they are collapsing. They have many economic and cultural problems. They have security problems in the world and their influence in Iraq and...
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Iranian journalist, Jila Bani Yaghoob wins Freedom... →
Jila Bani Yaghoob, Iranian blogger, journalist and women’s rights activist was announced as this year’s winner of Reporters Without Borders’ Freedom of Expression award, at the sixth international “Best of the Blogs” ceremony in Berlin by German radio Deutsche Welle, for her blog We are journalists.
In a statement announcing Bani Yaghoob as this year’s winner, the press ...
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Cannes 2010 Lineup →
Unfortunately, Malick’s Tree of Life didn’t make the cut, but Iranian director, Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy with Juliette Binoche, did. (Previously)
The list.
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Washington Post: Ahmadinejad: Iran will not beg to... →
Ahmadinejad, who Wednesday called Obama a nuclear-armed “cowboy”, said Iran would “try to make an opportunity out of sanctions” rather than change its stance to avoid them. While dismissing the sanctions threat, Iran has also warned against any military steps against its nuclear program. After several warnings that it would hit back at Israel if attacked from there,...
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WatchAmir Jahanchahi’s speech from London
Guardian: Iranian exile calls for overthrow of Ahmadinejad
Amir Jahanchahi, an exiled Iranian businessman, has called on his countrymen to rally round and act more decisively, suggesting that elements of the powerful Revolutionary Guard could be persuaded to turn against the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “The opposition cannot lead the...
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Reza Pahlavi's speech at the International Society... →
Few would argue today that the thought of reforming this regime, whether it be a domestic attempt or a foreign expectation, has proven to be unrealistic and unattainable. Why? Because the very nature of this regime, the very essence of its existence, is in direct conflict and diametrically opposed to the liberal principles of democracy as we understand it and the principles of human rights....
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NYT: Concern for Detained Iranian Filmmaker →
On Friday The Lede discussed the continuing detention of Jafar Panahi, a leading Iranian filmmaker who was arrested over a month ago, apparently while working on a film that, rightly or wrongly, the authorities understood to be “anti-state.” On Sunday, the Web site Rooz Online reported that Mr. Panahi’s wife, Tahereh Saeedi, released this statement after visiting him last week:
Eventually,...
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Reza Aslan talks to a former Revolutionary Guard... →
Reza Kahlili is the pseudonym for a former member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard who worked as a CIA agent throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In his new book, A Time to Betray, Kahlili describes in vivid detail how his hopes that the 1979 revolution, which overthrew Iran’s Western-backed dictator Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, would lead to a free and democratic Iran were dashed when he saw with his own...
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WSJ: No Reprieve for Americans Detained in Iran →
Wednesday marked the eight-month anniversary of the detention of three young American hikers being held in Iran’s Evin Prison. The three–Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal—were detained by Iranian security officials as they hiked along the Iraq-Iran border on July 31, and have been held without charges since then.
The three, all recent graduates of the University of California at ...
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“La libertad, Sancho, es uno de los más preciosos dones que a los hombres dieron...”
– Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. (via veronicaolivier)
“Freedom, Sancho, is one of the most precious gifts that the heavens offer men. Nothing compares to freedom, not even the treasures of the earth and sea. For freedom—and for honor— you can and should risk your life.” (my transl.)
Only in the...
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Jafar Panahi’s Family Writes Letter: “Maybe You... →
Director Jafar Panahi’s wife and two children published a letter for him to be delivered to Evin prison. Kaleme reports that each member of the family wrote their own personal text.
The following is the full text of the letter from his wife:
No, Jafar! the answer is no. You asked all of us as a joke and we all ignored the question, until the moment they came to our house and ...
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WatchJournalist Roxana Saberi released from Evin prison talks to Jon on the Daily Show. Watch it here.
“I will say this about Iran: They imprison the nicest people.” - Jon
